Laurel was even starting to speak as though their marriage was a fait accompli. Satisfaction spread through Rakin. “Our marriage would be temporary—such a drastic sacrifice would not be required.”
“How temporary?”
Rakin shrugged, impatient with her insistence. “Once we are married, my grandfather will sign the stocks over to me, I will have control of the company … and you will be free to leave—to return to Charleston, and your family, for good.”
She shifted to the edge of the seat, and the rogue tendril of hair fell forward. She brushed it back impatiently, and the pendant lights illuminating the alcove turned her diamond drop earrings to a cascade of sparkles. “But you would expect me to live in Diyafa, right?”
He nodded and crossed one leg over the other, keeping his pose deliberately casual, taking care not to spook her. A few minutes more … that was all it was going to take. “Otherwise my grandfather would not accept that our marriage was legitimate—and I cannot afford him to doubt the veracity of our union. But there would be compensations for living in Diyafa for part of the year. I travel a lot—and I’d expect you to be by my side. I make regular business trips to the United States, so you would see plenty of your family. You could continue doing public relations work for your family’s business. I would never stop you. The technology in Diyafa is groundbreaking; you could work there with everything at your fingertips. I travel to many countries, too. Think about it, you would be able to work through that list of yours.”
“What do you know about my List?” Laurel was staring at him, green eyes wide with shock.
He tried to keep the smugness out of his smile. It hadn’t taken him long to fathom what was on her list. “It’s obvious that you have a list of places you want to travel to. I know Vegas is on there for certain, you mentioned adding Lake Como—and you may even have considered Diyafa.”
Rakin got the feeling she was debating something.
He certainly couldn’t afford for her to have second thoughts now.
“Laurel, I will take you everywhere you wish to travel. We would visit the Taj Mahal, I would take you to the Tower of London. You could sip French champagne beside the Seine in the spring time. You will never regret the adventures you will experience.”
The doubt vanished and her expression filled with yearning. “That’s not fair. You’re chipping away at my weakest point.”
Of course, he knew that. For someone who had confessed to never having traveled much and always wanted to, he was offering the dream of a lifetime.
“It’s not a weakness to have a dream.”
There was an expression in her eyes that he did not recognize. “You’re offering to fulfill my dream?”
He didn’t need her romanticizing him. He was, after all, not the love of her life that his mother had thought his father to be. He wanted no misunderstandings. He was, after all, only a man. “It’s not one-sided. Don’t forget that I will get what I need, too.”
“So this will be a win-win deal?”
She understood! He couldn’t have chosen better if he’d spent the whole year searching for the perfect wife.
“Exactly,” he purred. The dazzling smile Rakin directed at her was filled with triumph. “Why not accept my proposition?”
Proposition.
The word dragged Laurel back to what Rakin was offering: a business deal … not the dream of a lifetime.
Restlessness flooded her, and she leapt to her feet. “I think I’ve found my second wind. Let’s see if I can break that Winthrop curse.”
Rakin rose more slowly and blocked her escape. “You want to gamble more? Now?”
She shot him a look that could never be described as flirtatious. He was the cause of this … this turbulence that was turning her inside out. “You’re asking me to take the gamble of a lifetime by marrying you—what difference is a few minutes going to make?”
He raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.
“Take all the time you need.” The look he gave her was full of masculine confusion as he stepped away so that she could pass. “But it’s hardly for a lifetime. It’s not a permanent arrangement.”
But Laurel didn’t move past him. “I want a sign.”
“A sign?” The confusion evaporated, leaving frustration clouding his eyes. “What kind of sign?”
“That marrying you is the right thing to do.”
“And what would you consider a good sign?”
Laurel thought about it for a moment. “Winning back the money I lost on the roulette tables—losing it was very bad luck.”
“But your family never wins.” Rakin looked fit to burst.
A wave of amusement swept Laurel along as she headed for the gambling area. Now perhaps he felt as off-balance as she did. Over her shoulder, she tossed, “I’m going to stick to the slot machines this time. So chances are if I do win it would be an excellent omen.”
Rakin made a peculiar sound.
Laurel turned, in time to see him produce a coin from his pocket.
“Heads or tails?” he demanded.
The absurdity of it struck her as she came to a stop. “You’re asking me to make what might be one of the biggest decisions of my life on the flip of a coin?”
“You’re about to risk it on a machine that pays pittances on pairs of cherries. I prefer these odds,” he said grimly.
“I prefer the cherries.”
He didn’t even smile.
“You’ve got no intention of saying ‘yes’ to my proposal, have you?”
Laurel didn’t answer at once. To be honest, she was confused—Rakin had turned her world upside down with his proposal. It was far more disorientating than the roller coasters they’d shared earlier. Or the flashing lights and loud chimes of the nearby slot machines.
Part of her wanted to leap in and say yes.
No doubt about it, marriage to Rakin would be an adventure. A chance to experience things she wouldn’t otherwise. It certainly made good business sense. The Kincaid Group couldn’t afford to turn away opportunities for new business—particularly not with Jack Sinclair still causing all kinds of mayhem.
But the more cautious side of her, the old carefully and conservatively raised Laurel Kincaid, warned that she didn’t know Rakin terribly well, that this was an extremely risky proposition, one she should avoid at all costs.
All reason evaporated when he strode up to her and put his hands on her shoulders. “I should’ve asked you to marry me back on the balcony last night—I’m starting to think you might have been more likely to say yes back during the wedding.”
His touch against her bare skin was … disturbing. Laurel struggled to think. At last she shook her head slowly. “You were a stranger then, I know you so much better now.”
She realized it was true.
In the cocoon formed by his arms, for her benefit as much as his, she ticked off on her fingers what she’d learned. “One, you’re fun to be with—I’ve never laughed so much in my life as I did today. Two, you’re kind—you held my hand when you thought I might be scared that first time on the roller coaster. Three, you love the world around us—I discovered that at the top of the Eiffel Tower. Four, you’re good with children—”
“You can’t possibly know that!”
His hands dropped away from her shoulders, and her flesh felt cool where, an instant before,